Rockets Explode In Southern Israel As Obama Visits - Police

Two rockets exploded in a southern Israeli town near the Gaza border on Thursday, the second day of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to the Jewish state, Israeli police said.

One of the rockets damaged the yard of an Israeli home but there were no immediate reports of injuries. There were also no immediate claims of responsibility issued in Hamas Islamist-ruled Gaza.

Obama is on a three-day visit to Israel, the occupied West Bank and Jordan. He will not travel to Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas, a group sworn to Israel's destruction.

The president was in Jerusalem, some 80 km (50 miles) from Sderot, when the rockets struck several hours before his visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah for talks with Hamas's rival, Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"We condemn violence against civilians regardless of its source, including rocket firing," Abbas was quoted as saying by the official Palestinian Wafa news agency.

"We are in favor of maintaining mutual and comprehensive calm in Gaza," he added.

At Tel Aviv airport on Wednesday, Obama inspected an Iron Dome anti-missile battery, a partially U.S.-funded system that has been used to shoot down rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.